djt IS psychotic, a well- known complication of his frontotemporal dementia, imo as an md. That does not invalidate your cogent definitions of trump's behavior; it just adds a deeper chaotic element to his behavior. If he had brain mri's, they could be diagnostic. Great analysis. Thank you peter
One of the best explanations of Trump I've seen. And I hope it leads to the end of ponderous opinion journalism that tries to explain his actions in any other way.
Many times I have hoped I had said something so insightful that everyone else would realize there was no need ever to say anything about that subject again, but this has not actually happened yet.
Can anyone see him saying as he starts a nuclear war..”This is the biggest war anyone in history has ever started! No one has ever started anything as big as this war!!”
Tim, the problem with your writing and analysis is they’re so damned good that all else on the topic seem gray, unnecessary footnotes.
The falling tyrant immolating all under him was beautifully depicted by Delacroix in The Death of Sardanapolis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Sardanapalus). It was considered shockingly scandalous at the time, for many of the same reasons as our journalists’ inability to see or describe Trump as he is - it was just too dark to consider that reality.
Also, naked ladies. I know all about Death of Sardanapalus. In fact I have a feeling I referenced it more explicitly in some earlier substack essay. Thanks for the kind words about my writing. Especially with regard to politic, I never know whether I am being smart and insightful or stupid and obvious.
Thank you for your clarity! I would add to those who think he might have some smarts to get this far, I think it’s more like high speed evolution. If something works to further those 3 goals, he might try it again. If it doesn’t, he forgets about it. The things he tries, however, are not out of strategy or logic, they are whims.
Perfectly correct. It's almost comical how even now, many people who aren't stupid and/or vicious enough to support him still tie themselves in knots to avoid acknowledging that he's an imbecile and a psychopath and that these traits together largely explain his behavior.
I'm reminded of David Roth's 2017 essay "The president of blank sucking nullity":
"The most significant thing to know about Donald Trump's politics or process, his beliefs or his calculations, is that he is an asshole; the only salient factor in any decision he makes is that he absolutely does not care about the interests of the parties involved except as they reflect upon him ... Trump doesn't know anything or really believe anything about any topic beyond himself, because he has no interest in any topic beyond himself; his evident cognitive decline and hyperactive laziness and towering monomania ensure that he will never again learn a new thing in his life ... This is the horror at the hole of every asshole, and it is why Trump will never get better as a president or a person: it will always and only be about him."
I expect the consequences, which are already atrocious, will get much worse. I highly doubt there's anything he wouldn't do if he thought it would profit him and he could get away with it. And since he's gotten away with everything so far, he'll probably think he can get away with anything.
A friend of mine who used to work on Capitol Hill once explained to me: "You gotta understand, these guys aren't afraid of losing their next election—they are existentially terrified of losing, because their whole identities are invested in this role, the status and power, and if they lose that, they will become nothing." So I think even people like Lindsay Graham, who called him unfit for office, and JD Vance, who compared him to Hitler, became obsequious toadies because they're opportunists addicted to power, and afraid of losing Trump's favor and getting primaried by one of his flunkies. And although no one talks about this, I think they're also very reasonably scared of being assassinated (or their families being kidnapped or killed) by one of his slavering base if they oppose him.
I agree completely; Trump is Trump, all the rest of it is detritus created by fools who think they can control him or wait him out. He won't stop. And the amazing thing-and I make this point whenever Trump comes up-is, and this might be the only straight forward thing he's said in the last decade: At his fraud trial, he said he had every right to lie and cheat. It was on everyone else to do their due-diligence. NOT him. And if you were stupid enough to take his word for it, to expect him to follow the rules like everyone else, well, that on you and boo-hoo.
Thank you Tim! You have saved me, and hopefully many other people, a shitload of time I can now use in other parts of my life because I will never need to read a single word about the Tangerine Turd again. You nailed everything about him in this article. No more information or analysis will be needed. The only thing left for all of us is to have a personal plan so we can get to a polling station in November with whatever documents are needed so we can vote out all the Republican fucktard codependent legislators who enable Donnie and his team of sycophantic incompetents.
I agree with most of your post. Where we disagree is I absolutely believe he is a diagnosable Malignant Narcissist, though a very stupid one.
"A malignant narcissist is someone with a severe form of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) combined with antisocial behavior, paranoia, and sadism. They not only exhibit grandiosity and a lack of empathy, but also actively delight in inflicting emotional or physical harm on others to assert control."
Thank you, Tim Kreider, for articulating so clearly something I’ve felt for years but could never quite put into words. I feel sad for the hardworking and intelligent journalists who have to cover this ignoramus in such a serious manner. What I don’t understand is why the editorial board of The New York Times (and others) can’t say this as plainly. Why are we still treating an unserious man with such seriousness? I guess it's because it sells and gets clicks. It reminds me of the movie BEING THERE, where Peter Sellers plays the dolt who rises to the highest levels of power because everyone mistakes banality for wisdom. At least that was a comedy. But this is reality. I’ll be sharing this with everyone I know. Thank you TK!
Mark M, I didn't mean to sound disparaging of your comment on the Being There character. <I have a long love of the movie and the book.> Because re: the character, the result is the same. Whether it's a simple, kindly gardener who lives in his own world, or a failed real estate developer with delusions of grandeur. The PR machine gets to work and this is what happens.
100% One more thing I've noticed that adds to the sanewashing - the media "industrial complex" aspect, since all these journalists and pundit's livelihood, and identity, are built around maintaining their jobs and the illusion of "business as usual."
Why questions often lead to a lot of speculation and little factual information. Who, what, when, where, and how are more useful and lead to what you write here. I concur with the exception that I'm not sure he's stupid, but for all I can see, he is greedy and self-absorbed, and no one has ever effectively put boundaries on him. It seems his pundits tell him what he wants to hear in an effort to minimize everyone's anxiety over his behavior. Journalist sanewashing is very problematic.
Valid point, well said. Like I said in my penultimate paragraph, the best that journalists (as opposed to analysts or op-ed writers) can probably do is lay out the facts clearly and let you draw your own (usually pretty self-evident) conclusion.
An afterthought: I think people resist the conclusion that he's as stupid as he seems because it's too disturbing to contemplate the possibility that so many people are so much stupider. But I don't think it requires any great genius to realize that you can lie to people and tell them whatever they want to hear, pander to their prejudices and superstitions, and they'll hungrily suck it all up and give you all their money. It just requires that you not have a bothersome conscience to inhibit you from doing it. Like Joseph Cotton's character says in "Citizen Kane": "It's not hard to make a million dollars if all you care about is making a million dollars."
Well put, I’ve been waiting for more in the media to explain Trump this way. The NY Times knows all of this, of course. Yet they constantly pretend Trump has plans and strategies and logic. It’s infuriating.
djt IS psychotic, a well- known complication of his frontotemporal dementia, imo as an md. That does not invalidate your cogent definitions of trump's behavior; it just adds a deeper chaotic element to his behavior. If he had brain mri's, they could be diagnostic. Great analysis. Thank you peter
Or to put it in a single sentence: his worldview is that life is dominate or be dominated, abuse or be abused.
One of the best explanations of Trump I've seen. And I hope it leads to the end of ponderous opinion journalism that tries to explain his actions in any other way.
Many times I have hoped I had said something so insightful that everyone else would realize there was no need ever to say anything about that subject again, but this has not actually happened yet.
Can anyone see him saying as he starts a nuclear war..”This is the biggest war anyone in history has ever started! No one has ever started anything as big as this war!!”
Tim, the problem with your writing and analysis is they’re so damned good that all else on the topic seem gray, unnecessary footnotes.
The falling tyrant immolating all under him was beautifully depicted by Delacroix in The Death of Sardanapolis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Sardanapalus). It was considered shockingly scandalous at the time, for many of the same reasons as our journalists’ inability to see or describe Trump as he is - it was just too dark to consider that reality.
Also, naked ladies. I know all about Death of Sardanapalus. In fact I have a feeling I referenced it more explicitly in some earlier substack essay. Thanks for the kind words about my writing. Especially with regard to politic, I never know whether I am being smart and insightful or stupid and obvious.
Thank you for your clarity! I would add to those who think he might have some smarts to get this far, I think it’s more like high speed evolution. If something works to further those 3 goals, he might try it again. If it doesn’t, he forgets about it. The things he tries, however, are not out of strategy or logic, they are whims.
Perfectly correct. It's almost comical how even now, many people who aren't stupid and/or vicious enough to support him still tie themselves in knots to avoid acknowledging that he's an imbecile and a psychopath and that these traits together largely explain his behavior.
I'm reminded of David Roth's 2017 essay "The president of blank sucking nullity":
"The most significant thing to know about Donald Trump's politics or process, his beliefs or his calculations, is that he is an asshole; the only salient factor in any decision he makes is that he absolutely does not care about the interests of the parties involved except as they reflect upon him ... Trump doesn't know anything or really believe anything about any topic beyond himself, because he has no interest in any topic beyond himself; his evident cognitive decline and hyperactive laziness and towering monomania ensure that he will never again learn a new thing in his life ... This is the horror at the hole of every asshole, and it is why Trump will never get better as a president or a person: it will always and only be about him."
(https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-president-of-blank-sucking-nullity-roth)
I expect the consequences, which are already atrocious, will get much worse. I highly doubt there's anything he wouldn't do if he thought it would profit him and he could get away with it. And since he's gotten away with everything so far, he'll probably think he can get away with anything.
It's called psychopathic narcicism.
He is textbook.
His followers and supporters have broken brains too.
Either they think they will gain or they are afraid of their death by him .
That explains the frozen politicians who know but will do nothing.
How healthy.
By standards of the Supreme Law of our land, the Constitution, he is null and void.
I wish more citizens knew what the Constitution actually says.
A friend of mine who used to work on Capitol Hill once explained to me: "You gotta understand, these guys aren't afraid of losing their next election—they are existentially terrified of losing, because their whole identities are invested in this role, the status and power, and if they lose that, they will become nothing." So I think even people like Lindsay Graham, who called him unfit for office, and JD Vance, who compared him to Hitler, became obsequious toadies because they're opportunists addicted to power, and afraid of losing Trump's favor and getting primaried by one of his flunkies. And although no one talks about this, I think they're also very reasonably scared of being assassinated (or their families being kidnapped or killed) by one of his slavering base if they oppose him.
I agree completely; Trump is Trump, all the rest of it is detritus created by fools who think they can control him or wait him out. He won't stop. And the amazing thing-and I make this point whenever Trump comes up-is, and this might be the only straight forward thing he's said in the last decade: At his fraud trial, he said he had every right to lie and cheat. It was on everyone else to do their due-diligence. NOT him. And if you were stupid enough to take his word for it, to expect him to follow the rules like everyone else, well, that on you and boo-hoo.
A haunting quote. One we should bear in mind.
Thank you Tim! You have saved me, and hopefully many other people, a shitload of time I can now use in other parts of my life because I will never need to read a single word about the Tangerine Turd again. You nailed everything about him in this article. No more information or analysis will be needed. The only thing left for all of us is to have a personal plan so we can get to a polling station in November with whatever documents are needed so we can vote out all the Republican fucktard codependent legislators who enable Donnie and his team of sycophantic incompetents.
I agree with most of your post. Where we disagree is I absolutely believe he is a diagnosable Malignant Narcissist, though a very stupid one.
"A malignant narcissist is someone with a severe form of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) combined with antisocial behavior, paranoia, and sadism. They not only exhibit grandiosity and a lack of empathy, but also actively delight in inflicting emotional or physical harm on others to assert control."
Thank you, Tim Kreider, for articulating so clearly something I’ve felt for years but could never quite put into words. I feel sad for the hardworking and intelligent journalists who have to cover this ignoramus in such a serious manner. What I don’t understand is why the editorial board of The New York Times (and others) can’t say this as plainly. Why are we still treating an unserious man with such seriousness? I guess it's because it sells and gets clicks. It reminds me of the movie BEING THERE, where Peter Sellers plays the dolt who rises to the highest levels of power because everyone mistakes banality for wisdom. At least that was a comedy. But this is reality. I’ll be sharing this with everyone I know. Thank you TK!
Mark M, I didn't mean to sound disparaging of your comment on the Being There character. <I have a long love of the movie and the book.> Because re: the character, the result is the same. Whether it's a simple, kindly gardener who lives in his own world, or a failed real estate developer with delusions of grandeur. The PR machine gets to work and this is what happens.
Donald j trump is no Chauncey Gardiner.
If he even knew who Chauncey is he would think he was.
100% One more thing I've noticed that adds to the sanewashing - the media "industrial complex" aspect, since all these journalists and pundit's livelihood, and identity, are built around maintaining their jobs and the illusion of "business as usual."
Why questions often lead to a lot of speculation and little factual information. Who, what, when, where, and how are more useful and lead to what you write here. I concur with the exception that I'm not sure he's stupid, but for all I can see, he is greedy and self-absorbed, and no one has ever effectively put boundaries on him. It seems his pundits tell him what he wants to hear in an effort to minimize everyone's anxiety over his behavior. Journalist sanewashing is very problematic.
Valid point, well said. Like I said in my penultimate paragraph, the best that journalists (as opposed to analysts or op-ed writers) can probably do is lay out the facts clearly and let you draw your own (usually pretty self-evident) conclusion.
An afterthought: I think people resist the conclusion that he's as stupid as he seems because it's too disturbing to contemplate the possibility that so many people are so much stupider. But I don't think it requires any great genius to realize that you can lie to people and tell them whatever they want to hear, pander to their prejudices and superstitions, and they'll hungrily suck it all up and give you all their money. It just requires that you not have a bothersome conscience to inhibit you from doing it. Like Joseph Cotton's character says in "Citizen Kane": "It's not hard to make a million dollars if all you care about is making a million dollars."
Well put, I’ve been waiting for more in the media to explain Trump this way. The NY Times knows all of this, of course. Yet they constantly pretend Trump has plans and strategies and logic. It’s infuriating.
All points spot on.